I will be serving the Lord in The Dominican Republic Santo Domingo West Mission from June 2011-2013.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

GREAT WEEK!

August 4, 2012

Hello Family!

To start things off I've gotta tell you the news that has made me most happy this week! Today I logged on to my e-mail and had a message from Brad Gonzalez. He was just telling me a little bit of the news from the Best Buy gang, and at the end he threw in the tidbit of information that he is getting baptized next week!!! He said he is getting baptized the 9th of August! How awesome is that?! I asked him to tell me at what time and where, and if you guys would be willing I would really appreciate it if you would go. I will send you the information when I get it, but that would be great if you could go. Anyways, that's part of the good news for this week!

This week in the mission has been a little stressful, but extremely good! This week I took over the finances and exec. secretary work. I have been extremely busy, but I am learning a ton! But, the most rewarding part of this week happened yesterday. Yesterday we had a second visit with a family that was absolutely amazing. We were working as a trio with one of our Zone Leaders, and we showed up a little bit late to the visit. As we were walking to the house, the husband was leaving. He was absolutely furious and said he was done-he was leaving. We mas o menos dragged him up the stairs to the house to share with him. We started off by singing When There's Love At Home (maybe that's what its called in English...don't remember). We then said the prayer, and immediately he started saying some pretty rude things to his wife. We stopped him, and began to teach. We started off by talking about the family. Why is it important? What role does it have in Gods plan? We then started applying the Gospel of Jesus Christ to this family. It was amazing how us 3 missionaries who had hardly ever worked together just started clicking. The lesson just flowed. Towards the end, the husband said "I feel something I have never felt in my life..it is a peace and comfort that I can't describe". The member who was with us said..that's the spirit. The spirit was so strong in that moment it was unbelievable. We left them a bunch of "homework" to do as a family. They are going to pray, read the scriptures, and have family home evening. To end, we all knelt and the husband said a beautiful prayer, and we left. Oh, and they now have a baptismal date for the 22nd of September. :)

I share that not only because it was an amazing experience, but also because it made me think once again of the family. I was thinking about all the times that I heard "say your family prayers, have family home evening, and read the scriptures together". As I teenager lets be honest, that's the last thing I wanted to do with my free time. Well, I now see the importance. Those things are what keep a family together. That's what turns a house into a home. That's what prepares a family to be eternal. I encourage all to do those things! Mom and Dad, I guess family home evening would be a little boring with just you two, maybe you can join an old people empty nester's club :) Hahaha. Just kidding :)

I want you to know that I know that the gospel of Christ is for the family! It is central to the plan. All that we do leads to the temple, but not just to the temple, more specifically to being sealed in the temple! That's the most important thing we can do! If we have done it, always keep those covenants. They are what bind us together as a family.